The Captor's Curse
by Blucad
Summary: Disastrous events are happening in the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario's been captured, and the captor tries to place everyone in his curse. Luigi, Peach, Daisy and Yoshi team up in an attempt to save them. Can they free them from the captor's curse? Please R&R.
1. A Toad's Plea

**Lucad: Hey, guys. Most of the things (places, enemies, etc.) here are based on RPG games in the Mario franchise, namely the Paper Mario series, Mario and Luigi series, and Super Mario RPG. I hope you like this story. This should be one of my first attempts at creating stories.  
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**I rated this story T for there might be some inappropriate language, and maybe a few other things that might be unsuitable for the K+ rating.**

**Mario and co. belong to Nintendo. I am merely creating a fictional chain of events based on them.  
**

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- Chapter One: A Toad's Plea -

**KNOCK! KNOCK!**

"What IS that sound!?" Luigi furiously bolted upright from his bed. He heard loud knocks from the door across the almost pitch-black room.

It was in the middle of the night. He was in his bedroom, but he was hearing knocks...and the only person who can knock at his bedroom door right now is Mario. Problem is, he can't think of a reason for his brother to knock at his room at this time.

**KNOCK! KNOCK!**

"Luigi!" A faint yell can be heard from the other side of the wooden door. "Open up!" His brother seemed bothered and hasty.

As said, he wondered what the fuss could be. It was a peaceful night, as far as he knows. His windows were apparently closed that night, so he had no idea whether there was something stirring outside their house, moreover, his room. He quickly got up, walked across the room barefooted, glancing at random objects in his room for no reason at all, and opened the door.

The lights were turned on at the hallway, which made Luigi cover his eyes from the light immediately.

He caught the sight of his brother, who looked frantic tonight. He was dressed in his usual outfit, a red cap, a similarly red shirt, and blue overalls. Of course, he's not supposed to be wearing them right now.

"What is it?" Luigi interrogated, a slight degree of annoyance in his question. That wasn't appropriate, he thought, but nevertheless, he was annoyed at that time.

"Peach is in danger!" the upset older brother informed Luigi in a hasty manner, "We must go there, NOW!"

"What!?" he asked in disbelief. So Bowser has apparently been doing his thing at night?

"You must believe," he continued, though he looked as if he can't handle waiting for Luigi to do so. "Dress up as soon as you can, and try to catch up with me. I'll be going there first." Mario disappeared out of sight, his footsteps fading from Luigi's perception. "Mario must be really concerned about Peach," Luigi uttered, turning around.

The room was still almost pitch-black, in his opinion, but it was dimly lit by the light from the hallway. His room was quite messy, though he hardly noticed it until now.

He then went back in, towards his wardrobe, and peeked in as he opened each.

"Now WHERE are those clothes!?" he groaned, not having time to waste in looking for his clothes. He only saw his green hat, having an encircled white 'L' on it in the same way as Mario's hat had an 'M' on it.

But he had no choice...he can't possibly go there on his pajamas. So he searched the house for his blue overalls and green shirt, which were situated on unthinkable places.

He looked at his room. "Nope."

He checked the kitchen. "Not here."

The dining room? "No."

Maybe the bathroom. "Hahaha...what?"

After checking every other room, he checked his brother's room.

When he finally found them, how they ended up there, he did not know, though he was lucky it took him only a few minutes, he went back to his room and got into his clothes. While putting them on, he was thinking how his brother found out about Peach's situation.

"My bro's pretty attached to Peach more than I thought," he said to no one in particular. "It's as if he can sense everything that is near Peach."

Luigi got some stuff before leaving. Mushrooms mostly, but he did not forget to bring the lucky charm that Daisy gave him the week before, back at the park bench. The memory flashed back to his mind.

* * *

_Luigi was in the park with Daisy. The two of them were sitting on the bench, Luigi looking tired._

_"You know, Luigi, you should have just said that you weren't used to jogging in the first place," the brunette told him._

_He tried to make up a reason, but failed to do so, and just told the truth. "I didn't want you to think of me as a wimp. I had no idea it would be this tiring."_

_Daisy shook his head.  
_

_"Luigi," she said his name. "Here," she handed him one of her floral earrings._

_"Wha? Why are you giving this to me, Daisy?" he asked, confused, though he was blushing._

_Daisy smiled. "That's so you'll always remember me," she said, making Luigi redder than ever. "As a friend, of course." she quickly added, punching Luigi on his shoulder lightly. She laughed at Luigi's reaction. Luigi got over it and simply laughed along.  
_

_"You alright already?" Daisy suddenly asked him. "Because if you are, we should get moving. Let's a-GO!" she gleefully told Luigi, mimicking him and his brother's line. He held Luigi's hand and pulled him up. They then continued to jog, back to where they started.  
_

* * *

With his thoughts aside, he hurried to put his brown shoes, almost failing to find them similar to his other garments a while ago, and ran outside, locking the door along the way. The green clad plumber noticed the sky was filled with countless stars tonight.

"The sky looks beautiful tonight," he mentioned to himself in awe. He thought of how different his brother's mood was from the evening.

And seeing the beautiful sky...made him look towards a contrasting view...at the direction of Peach's Castle.

He realized his brother had enough of a reason to panic. The upper-left part of the castle was ablaze, much to Luigi's dismay. The land near it, which he knew as Toad Town, was similarly glowing. He hoped Peach was alright, and Mario would be careful. He then ran toward the warp pipe that takes him to Toad Town, and jumped in.

Toad Town was woefully disquieted tonight...a lot more disquieted than what Luigi expected. Most of the houses were ablaze, thick black smoke wandering out and about, sparks from the orange flames' combustion going everywhere, Toads scarred, running, screaming here and there, and the young ones were crying. It was hard to see the town in havoc, and he wondered how Mario got through the turbulence.

He looked at a particular house, its roof burning...segments of it dropping to the ground. A huge part of the blazing roof detached, came crashing down...and he noticed that a young orange spot capped Toad was sitting, or crying, beneath the exact place as to where the burning segment of the roof would drop.

"WATCH OUT!" he yelled, running towards the targeted young Toad before it was too late. He leaped, stretching his hands in front of him, towards the doomed Toad, in an attempt to somewhat push him aside...push him from his doom.

In an unexpected event, both of them miraculously pulled off an evasion right on time... The burning roof crashing inches from Luigi and the Toad.

"T-thanks, m-mister," the young Toad, looking exhausted, grateful, and out of words.

"Don't mention it," he said, having a hard time believing that he was able to do it...that he saved the young one's life.

Apparently, Luigi was noticed for his act of heroism by a particular Toad that he and Mario were close to, who's name was simply Toad. Luigi and the young Toad noticed him, too, and ran towards him.

"Thank you, Luigi, for saving my cousin, Todd, from absolute peril," he gratefully told Luigi. "You owe us one."

Luigi felt himself blush at Toad's words. He glanced at Todd, his cap unusually specked with orange spots. The color reminded the plumber of Daisy, because of the color of her dress. It was the second time that Luigi remembered Daisy that night. He hoped she was okay right now, and that nothing as perilous as this was happening to her.

Toad interrupted, making Luigi stop in his trail of thoughts. "I still need to ask a favor from you," he began, his voice now trembling in fear and derangement. "You MUST help us...the whole town...and Princess Peach."

The younger Toad, Todd, followed his cousin's actions. "Please, sir. Help us. We need both you and Mario to do this," he said.

Luigi was having a hard time keeping his coward side from showing, and right now when the two Toads were begging for him to help them.

"I will," he managed to say, hiding his fear. "I need to ask, though," he continued, Toad listening intently. "Have you seen my brother?"

"Yeah, I have," his voice was finally calm. "He went towards Peach's castle about 5 minutes ago," he said, and continued on. "You should be careful if you decide to follow him, Luigi. The castle courtyard is on fire, too," Toad warned, which made Luigi gulp.

"Thanks," he said absentmindedly. He was thinking of a way to get though the courtyard and in Peach's castle, now that he knew the courtyard was on fire. Still, he continued on, waving at Toad and his cousin, Todd.

He then ran across town, not minding the noise and wreck that was surrounding him. Though dodging the spurting flames and running Toads was a tough thing to do, he was able to, and soon, he got to the intersection on the east side of town, seeing the castle gates from north of where he was standing. Signs of flames were present as he glanced on the gates, sounds of cracking coming from inside, and flickers of red-orange hued combustion made him tremble a bit. Though he thought to himself that this was nothing to be intimidated at, for he needed to do what Toad, an awfully nice guy to be with, pleaded.

"I can do this," he assured to himself, trying to boost his self confidence. And with one last look at the burning town that he might not see anymore if...by any chance, he...fails, Luigi ran towards the gate, braver than he's ever been.

* * *

Peach was horrified. She wasn't expecting something stir tonight, and she thought that she was dreaming. But alas, she was obviously not. Everything that she is currently seeing from the balcony where she is standing...it is all true. The town below her was burning, smoke floating up towards the starry night sky, screams can be heard from where she was at, and her castle was burning, too. And it's sad that she doesn't know why this is happening, who is doing this and how to help them. She felt useless, being the princess she is.

"I can't stand this," the blond princess, who wore a beautiful pink dress, said in disgust. She would not let this happen. She HAD to do something.

At that same time when she was pondering on what to do, Toadsworth, an old cautious Toad having a cap with brown spots who was at the same time Peach's adviser and guardian, entered the balcony from Peach's room to speak with her.

"I should tell you, princess, that you mustn't worry. Mario will save us," the old Toad tried to convince Peach, but was ceased by the princess' following statement.

"We shouldn't wait for Mario to help us forever. And I am not going to let anyone risk his life for me again," she stated, making her point clear. "I need to make a move, and not just wait."

As she said this, she approached the door leading outside. She then halted, for she saw someone who wasn't supposed to be there.

"Peach!" Mario shouted, urging her to open the door for him. The red clad plumber looked burnt, he was black of smoke, but he was still there.

"Mario! What are you doing here?" she asked, though she knew that he would be doing this thing as always. She quickly approached him.

Mario was covered with soot. He was as black as the smoke outside, and if Peach did not close the door immediately, she would've caught the soot on her dress, too.

He had a hard time answering clearly, being someone who inhaled smoke too much. "I'm here *cough* *cough* to help. *cough*"

"But you shouldn't have! You almost got cooked!" she reasoned. He tried to answer, but all Mario was able to do was cough.

Toadsworth, who was watching, was speechless. Mario was having difficulty breathing, and they needed to act fast before something bad happens.

He did not know, though, that two beings who would make an important role towards Mario's safety are both inside the castle, approaching them.

One of them would save, and one of them would kill.

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**I hope you like it so far. Please write a review, or criticize. I want, no, I need to hear your opinion, no matter how long.**

** Reviews or criticisms would probably be the ones that would urge me to continue the story, so please click that button below.  
**


	2. The New Enemy

**Lucad: Again, I need to read your reviews, and I thank Fyras14 for giving a short yet encouraging review.**

**Please keep those reviews/criticisms coming.**

**Mario and co. belong to Nintendo.**

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**_EDIT (6/7/2009): I edited a few things, some in favor of the next chapter. Please note these differences to avoid confusion.  
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**- Chapter Two: The New Enemy -

"Here, Master Mario," Toadsworth told the suffocating plumber as he handed him a glass of slightly unclean water. "I must apologize for not giving you anything more suitable, but the castle's water supply has been affected by the fire," he continued in an excuse. The old Toad just came from Peach's bathroom and took water from the bathroom's faucet.

The place was an inferno in terms of temperature, though it was dark...only illuminated in a red-orange glow by the huge fire outside the room. Toadsworth had a hard time navigating through the blazing hot pathways in the princess' room, mostly due to both the temperature and lack of light. Peach, who was beside Mario at that time, took the glass of water and placed its rim in between Mario's lips, enabling him to drink.

She and Toadsworth were parched from sweating, and it felt like they were inside a colossal oven. They needed to prioritize Mario to quench his thirst first, though, since he was evidently in a bad condition at the moment.

"What is with Bowser, anyway!?" Peach, showing a side that was rarely seen, angrily asked to Toadsworth, who flinched at Peach's sudden outburst, as Mario started to drink. "He needs to stop doing these horrible things once in awhile! Could he even picked a worse time than this!? The people are suffering because of him. And I can't do a damn thing about it..." she added, her voice getting weaker from helplessness.

She was tired of being helpless. She wanted to do something.

Toadsworth was not able to answer.

The plumber drank all that he can manage, and was able to speak in a weak voice. "Peach...I just found out that...it was not Bowser who...did this..." Mario told the princess, pauses in between his speech.

"What!?" Toadsworth exclaimed, surprised at Mario's previous statement. Peach was equally shocked, clearly expressed through her face.

This expression then turned into realization, and then fear.

"W-Who is doing this then!?" Peach asked, her voice shaking. It was unnerving to know that someone else was causing trouble. Someone Peach was not familiar to.

Apparently, Mario was the same. "I have no idea. I saw a peculiar shadow on the castle hall on the second floor..." he muttered. "Between the flames..."

He remembered that particular incident. On the way to Peach's room, Mario was running, jumping, evading the flames, going up stairs, busting through partially burnt doors. He didn't care to glance the surroundings, for his veins had adrenaline running through them. The second floor hall caught his attention though. It was completely ablaze, the sound of burning that surrounded him blocking his ears. The ceiling reflected the color of the fire, warm colors, red, yellow, and orange. It looked like a sea of flames, with smoke coming out of it. The old color of the castle was hard to remember, the other parts that were not burning were simply as gray as ash.

He was almost blind from the flashing caused by the flames, and then something caught his attention. A shaded figure, which is bizarre, for it was supposed to at least have features in Mario's eyes, with light extremely near the figure, but it had no characteristics whatsoever. Only its silhouette is shown. As Mario curiously gazed upon the shadow, other countless figures appeared from literally out of nowhere, having the same features, though noticeably smaller in size. After what felt like a split second, the silhouettes vanished from Mario's sight, which urged him to continue on.

"But c-couldn't it have b-been Bowser!?" she interrupted, her voice still trembling. This ceased Mario's trail of thoughts. "N-no one can withstand...or even create flames besides him..."

"I'm afraid not...Peach..." Mario spoke, volume almost comparable to a whisper. "The silhouette *cough* had a different form. No horns, no shell...or anything that is similar to Bowser, only what seems to be a cloak of some sort, and hair that flows out from the top of his head," the coughing plumber continued to speak. "He looked like he had a lot of minions, too."

"This is unfortunate," Toadsworth mumbled, he, too, shaking in fear. "What if this new villain had plans a lot more awful than Bowser's?"

Peach desperately tried to hide her frightened expression. "Don't worry, Toadsworth," she tentatively assured the old Toad. "I'm sure we'll be fine."

Mario tried to speak again, noticeably hindered to do so by the room's temperature. "I *cough* told Luigi to come," he spoke, remembering his brother. "He must be in the castle, right now, looking for us. Knowing his nature, he'd be carrying useful stuff that would aid us."

Peach was glad to hear that there was still hope. "I do hope he succeeds in finding us," Peach began. "And I hope he would be careful, Mario, or else he might fail in giving you what would heal your condition, being the klutz he is."

Mario smiled, humored at Peach's claims about his younger brother. "You should have a little more faith in my brother."

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Luigi was oblivious that two people were talking about him at the moment. He was panting, the inferno and severe heat getting to him.

"Argh, this place is *cough* as hot as hell," he grumbled, complaining about the excessive heat emitted by the flames that surround him. "I do hope Peach and bro *cough* survive this heat."

He had inhaled enough smoke for him to go coughing, and that's not a good sign.

The courtyard was evidently a tough place to go through, it being grassy. Almost every patch of grass that you can find there was burning, the trees were similarly in flames, the river unable to do anything. The sky was gray from the smoke, and that made it even harder. But he was able to pull it off, Flutter Jumping over the flames, towards the river. Him splashing on the river and damping up his clothes were a good thing, though, because it made him withstand the flames on the first floor at the castle. Here at the second floor, though, the flames were enough to dry him.

"Oh man..."

He was definitely situated in an unpleasant location. The flames looked like they could engulf Luigi in seconds, and it almost seemed as if there was nothing he could do. But he was so close to Peach's room. The door was only a short distance from him, only flames as tall as walls separating him from it.

"I need to get to them," he said to himself. "Here we go!"

He then attempted to do a Flutter Jump, hoping that he could flutter over the flames like he did on the courtyard. He was able to do so, but it burnt parts of his overalls in the process.

"Uwaaaaah!" he howled as the flames burnt him. He was lucky to get past the flames, and landed on burnt platform with the door in front of him.

"Hey!" he called as he hit the door with his fists multiple times. "Open this door!" he continued to yell. "It's me, Luigi!"

He noticed that no one was answering, moreover, opening the door.

"Come ON! I don't have time for this!" he shouted as he continued to hit the door. After some time, he was tired of hitting the door.

"What is going on there!?" he tried to ask, loud enough for anyone on the other side of the door to hear. No one answered.

He thought of a way to barge in. He kicked the door, but that didn't work. He touched the door, and noticed that it was freezing cold. It seemed as if the whole door was made of ice. That's crazy. How the heck would a door be as cold as this when the whole place is literally an inferno?

This made him worry more about what is happening to his brother and the princess.

Nevertheless, it made him think of a way to get through. He thought that he could melt the edges, and THEN kick it open. He put his worries aside, thought hard, and remembered. If he can control fire through fire flowers, then he can surely wield the fire that was behind him. He took his gloves off and placed his bare palms in front of the roaring fire. It stung, the burning sensation hurting like heck.

He then felt something, and saw his clothes changing color, green turning white and blue turning green. He then turned around, created a ball of green fire on his hands and threw it at the corner of the door. This made the part of the door melt, and he knew his plan was working.

Luigi, now wearing a white shirt, cap and green overalls, smirked. "Oh yeah."

As he continued to create green fireballs and blast them at the edges, he heard voices, turning louder as more holes are created through the door.

There were two voices. One was familiar, and he knew it was Princess Peach's. Then he heard a sinister masculine voice. Luigi stopped what he was doing and focused on the conversation.

"Surrender, or get your beloved ones killed," the sinister voice continued, it sounding menacing. "Which is your choice, princess?"

"I..." Peach's voice began, trembling in fear. "...sur...rend..."

"DON'T!" Luigi suddenly heard his brother's voice, Mario, yell.

Luigi then saw through the holes...the scene before him. It was dark in the room. Nothing was stirring on the near side of it. Across the room, Toadsworth was lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Mario was on the ground, too, his whole body covered in soot. Peach was standing, looking paralyzed. The being, who was apparently the one causing the incident, looked like a Duplighost, but different to normal ones, somehow. His brother continued to talk, looking like he was attempting to stand up.

"I will NOT allow you to kidnap Peach, or take over her kingdom!" Mario threatened. "You have to get through me, first!"

"Do not underestimate me," the shady figure answered, looking at the plumber. "Allow me to prove my point."

He spread his arms wide, and in seconds, a huge pillar of fire and ice formed between him and Mario. He then dropped his arms, the pillar vanishing as quick as it appeared

The red clad plumber looked dumbfounded.

"Do you wish to suffer in my own hands!?" the figure glared at him.

Luigi felt like he needed to do something. Quick. He then charged a fireball, kicked the door open, catching everyone except the unconscious Toadsworth's attention. He quickly threw the fireball at the Duplighost looking creature.

The fireball dissolved seconds before it hit the creature. It seems that the creature detected his fireball.

The creature turned around, revealing an intimidating face. It was a Duplighost's face, but it looked more intimidating. Its eyes were almost the same as the normal Duplighost's, albeit being red in color. It had a silver cloak of some sort, a crooked mouth with fangs, long red-orange hair on top of its head, and clawed feet in a huge contrast to the normal Duplighost's habit of wearing footwear.

Mario and Peach were evidently surprised to see Luigi at the time, unable to utter a word.

"I have to ask," he spoke. "Did you honestly think that a mere fireball would have an effect on Duke, king of kings, and the strongest Duplighoul!?" he shouted at Luigi. He then approached the unconscious Toadsworth.

"Then again, I guess you haven't seen everything," he spoke in a calm manner.

Duke suddenly turned into a gaseous form, and went inside Toadsworth's mouth. The unconscious old Toad opened his eyes, now red.

Toadsworth stood up, held his glasses and shattered them. He then looked at Luigi, and made a sinister smile. "You might have encountered the inferior versions of us in the past, and you have seen their abilities. But you haven't seen everything. I am at the strongest when I put beings under my curse...or as some of you might say, possess beings."

He then raised his staff, slowly developing a dark aura surrounding it. A massive sphere of dark aura was formed, slowly getting bigger as Duke continued to charge it.

"Brace yourself."

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**Sorry if this chapter was shorter than the first.**

**So yeah, please click that button below and submit a review/criticize.**


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